Adjustable rail-chair.



A. G. LIBBMANN. ADJUSTABLE RAIL CHAIR, APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1913.

1,126,515. Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

man STATES PAT AUGUST G. LIEBMANN, 0F BUTTE, MONTANA, ASSIGNOR T0 VIGNOLES RAIL CHAIR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ADJUSTABLE RAIL-CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

Application filed July 10, 1913.' Serial No. 778,402.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST G. LmBMANN, citizen of the United States, residing at Butte, in the county of Silverbow and State of Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Rail- Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway track appliance, and particularly to rail chairs for supporting and holding the rails in secure position upon the ties.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a rail chair which will properly support a rail against either downward, outward or lateral thrusts, the chair being adapted to be attached to the rail by primary fastenings and having secondary fastening means engaging the rail so that in ad justing the rail for gage or in adjusting the rail vertically there will be no necessity of removing the bed-plate or base-plate from the tie.

A further object is to so construct the chair that it may be readily rolled from simple structural material, and a further object is to provide a rail chair whereby the rail may be readily adjusted either laterally or vertically so as to meet and overcome rail failures, eliminate uneven wear of rail seats upon ties due to excessive rising and falling of temperatures in the winter months, spike killing in shimming and adzing tie surfaces, excessive heaving of the track structure, and general uneven wear due to impact of rail upon ballast between plates and ties and other like causes.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of-a portion of a tie and rail with the improved railchair mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is an endelevation of the railand rail-chair partially in section. Fig. 3 is a partial plan View of the structure shown in Fig. 2.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawing by the same reference characters.

Referring to these figures A designates the tie and B the rail. These may be of any standard form. The tie is assumed to be of Wood. The rail B is supported directly upon a bed-plate 2 which is formed of channel iron and has upstanding abutinents 3 at its ends. The inner faces of these abutments are downwardly and inwardly in clined. The bed-plate has the same width its the tie so as to secure a large bearing surlace.

Disposed upon each side of the rail and engaging between the head and base thereof are the rail braces at. The upper end of each rail-brace engages beneath the head of the rail while the lower end is relatively enlarged to form a basal portion 5 engaging with the margin of the base-flange of the rail. The rail-braces are held in place and wedged against the rail by means of the wedging members 6. These wedging members as indicated particularly well in Fig. l have the form of rectangular blocks, the lateral faces of which converge downwardly. The outer lateral face 7 bears against the inner downwardly and inwardly inclined face of the corersponding abutment 3, while the inclined face 8 of the wedging member 6 bears against the downwardly and outwardly inclined face of the rail-brace 4-.

It will be noted from Fig. 1 and from Fig. 3 that the wedging member 6 is slightly longer than the length of the rail-brace 4 and that it is provided with the lips 9 which engage over the ends of the rail-brace so as to prevent any longitudinal movement of the rail brace with relation to the corresponding wedging member. The base-plate and wedging members are held in place by spikes 10. These are preferably screw spikes screwed into the wood of the tie A and may be spaced in staggered relation as in common engineering practice. The screw spikes extend upwardly through slots 10 formed in each of the wedging blocks 6 and the upper portion of each screw-spike is screwthreaded as at 11. The screw-spikes are formed with many-sided heads 12 whereby they may be initially turned. The wedging members are forced down each by a nut 13 engaging the screw-threaded portion 11 of the spike and this nut is held from unloosening by a lock or jamb nut 14:. A washer 15 may be interposed between the nut 13 and the upper face of the wedging member 6.

The operation of the invention will be obvious from what has gone before: hen

the rail is held in median position, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the wedging members 6 are disposed directly opposite to each other and in the same plane and are locked by turning down the nuts 13 and 14. When it is desired to laterally shift the rail the nuts 13 and 14 on one side are loosened and the wedging members on that side raised, while the nuts 13 and 14 on the other side are turned down, thus forcing the wedging members down and forcing the rail laterally. After the rail has been adjusted the other wedging member is forced down into tight engagement with its corresponding rail-brace. By forcing both the wedging members downwardly the rail-braces are forced firmly against the rail and act to support these rail-braces and the rail from lateral thrust. The tipping thrust upon the rail is translated by the downwardly and outwardly inclined rail-braces into a nearly vertical thrust.

It will be obvious that the rail cannot be moved upwardly without unloosening the nuts 13 and 14 and that when locked in position they cannot be moved laterally without unloosening these nuts. It will be further obvious and is one of the main objects of the invention that by loosening the nuts 13 and 1 1 a shim may be disposed beneath the rail B so as to elevate the rail. When the rail has been elevated to the proper height the wedging members 6 are again forced downwardly locking the rail-braces and the rail in adjusted position.

The form of the invention forming the subject matter of this application is particularly designed for use in the Central States region line between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Great Lakes and the Appalachian chain of mountains. This region constitutes a territory having generally rather poor drainage. The excessive rain fall common to this region causes the regular water courses to overflow with constant damage to the railway track. In this section during floods much damage is done to railways, particularly in winter when the rising and falling of temperature causes excessive heaving of the track structure. Wet spots in the roadbed will freeze and heave up the track above the normal surface, the result being a wavy roadbed over which trains must be operated. This is particularly true where the road is ballasted with earth, as is common in this section. This requires the use of extra thick shims at intervals. The rail chair heretofore described is so constructed as to permit the use of extra thick shims and meets and overcomes rail failures and fractures under these conditions. The heaving up of the track due to the freezing of wet spots in the roadbed results not only in making a wavy road'bed, as heretofore described, and

if not temporarily re-surfaced with shims properly reinforced results in the fracturing of the rail, the shearing of the baseflange of the rail and the loosening of the ordinary spikes and rail spreading.

About one-half of the maintenance cost of American railroads is-spent for the upkeep of the tracks and labor thereon. A very large proportion of this charge is caused by the necessity of re-spiking the rails to keep the main track in a reasonably good condition under moderate traffic. There is a constant and never ceasing expenditure in money for this purpose and this expenditure becomes greater and greater as the trafiic on the roads of the United States becomes heavier and heavier and greater speed attempted and attained.

It will be seen that the improved rail chair not only provides for a relatively extended bearing surface resting upon the tie and by which a more uniform distribution of the weight of the rail and of the rolling stock is secured, thus lengthening the life of the tie, but it permits the use of the most improved form of permanent fastenings and thus eliminates the necessity of re-spiking for holding rails to gage and surface on shims.

The abutments of the bed plate perform the dual function of holding the rail to gage in the different positions of said rail, and as a means for supporting the rail braces in a truss-like manner, thus preventing buckling of the bed plate downwardly at its center and curling upwardly at its edges and permitting the employment of a bed plate of ordinary thickness.

It will be seen that the improved chair conforms to the requirements stated in the official report of the Block Signal and Train Control Board of the Interstate Commerce Commission, dated June 29, 1912, in which report the use of screw spikes was particularly advocated and in which it was stated that provision must be made for supporting all of the stresses to which the rail is subjected. The report further stated that the means for holding the rg ,4 tie must be such as would permitofblocking up or shimming, and that]! adequate means must be provided for adjusting the gage of the track. The improved chair conforms to these requirements and further, is of such simple construction that it may be economically manufactured, readily put in place, and the rail readily adjusted in the chair.

The chair heretofore described is particularly designed for earth ballast or very light rock ballast and it is to be noted that this chair is not only extremely cheap to manufacture but that it permits the rail to deflect properly with, however, no lack of support. It is particularly adapted for use .to the where high speed trains are running over a relatively poor roadbed where rail fractures and failures are most common, due to light rails, poor surfacing and over-taxed traflic conditions. I

What I claim is 1. A rail chair including a bed-plate having a seat and provided with upstanding abutments, the inner faces of which are downwardly and inwardly inclined, oppositely disposed rail braces located between the abutments and having downwardly and outwardly inclined faces, vertically movable wedges disposed between the rail braces and inner faces of the abutments for holding a rail directly on the seat or on a shim and having oppositely disposed downwardly converging faces, and means for exerting a locking pressure upon the wedges.

2. A rail chair including a bed-plate having upstanding abutments, the inner faces of which are downwardly and inwardly inclined, rail braces adapted to bear against the lower face of the head and base of a rail respectively on opposite sides thereof, wedges bearing against the inclined faces of the abutments and said rail braces and movable vertically with respect to the bed plate for holding a rail directly on said bedplate or on a shim, said wedges being provided with openings, screw-spikes extending through said openings, and nuts carried by the screw-spikes and bearing against the wedges for exerting a locking pressure thereon.

A rail chair including a bed-plate having upstanding abutments and provided with a seat of greater width than the base of a rail to permit said rail to be adjusted laterally and vertically with respect to the seat, a rail resting directly on the seat or a shim between said abutments, oppositely disposed rail braces adapted to bear against the head and base of the rail respectively, wedges interposed between the abutments and rail braces and having their inner faces cut-away to form terminal lips adapted to bear against the adjacent ends of the rail braces, and means piercing the wedges and bed-plate for exerting a locking pressure on said wedges.

4. A rail chair including a bed-plate having a seat and provided with upstanding abutments, the inner faces of which are downwardly and inwardly inclined, oppo sitely disposed rail braces adapted to bear against the head and base of a rail respectively, wedges interposed between the inclined faces of the abutments and said rail braces for holding the rail directly on the seat or on a shim, said wedges being adjustable vertically with respect to the bed-plate and independently of each other, and means for exerting a locking pressure on said wedges.

5. A rail chair including a bed-plate having a seat and provided with upstanding abutments, the inner faces of which are downwardly and inwardly inclined, rail braces adapted to bear against the lower face of the head and base of a rail respectively on opposite sides thereof, interchangeable wedge members interposed between the abutments and rail braces for holding the rail directly on the seat or on a shim, and means extending through the wedges and bed-plate for exerting a downward pressure on the wedges.

6. A rail chair including a bed-plate having a seat and provided with upstanding abutments, rail braces adapted to engage opposite sides of a rail, vertically movable wedges interposed between the abutments and rail braces for holding the rail directly on the seat or on a shim, and means extending through the wedges for exerting a looking pressure thereon, said means serving to permanently secure the bed-plate to a substructure.

7. A rail chair including a bed-plate having upstanding abutments, the inner faces of which are downwardly and inwardly inclined, rail braces disposed between the abutments and having downwardly and out wardly inclined faces, vertically adjustable wedge members interposed between the inclined faces of the abutments and the inclined faces of the braces respectively, and means piercing the wedges and bed-plate for holding the wedges in adjusted position.

8. The combination with a tie and a rail thereon, of a bed-plate resting upon the tie and having upstanding parallel abutments, the abutments having downwardly inclined inner faces, downwardly and outwardly inclined rail-braces engaging the head and base of the rail, wedging members having downwardly converging side faces engaging between the abutments and the railbraces, each of said wedging members being longer than the corresponding rail-brace and having lips engaging the ends of the rail-brace, screw-spikes screw-threaded at their lower ends for engagement with the tie, said spikes passing through the bedplate and through the wedging members, and nuts having screw-threaded engagement with the upper portion of each spike and bearing upon the upper face of the adj acent wedging member.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUST Gr. LIEBMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

